The Dallas Morning News asks, “Why would the busy, some might say embattled, leader of the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church travel to Dallas for a 300-member congregation’s garden blessing service?
“Well, I was asked,” said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle invited Bishop Jefferts Schori for what was her first official visit to Dallas.
Wearing sunglasses and a white robe, the oceanographer-turned-priest helped preside over an elaborate afternoon service, blessing a garden whose raised-bed vegetable plots will help supply local food banks.
“Coming here to bless a garden, especially at this time in the history of humanity, when we’re focused on how the church can be a more proactive voice in caring for the rest of creation, is an important message,” she said before the service….
The Dallas Morning News also reports:
The blessing service Monday near Dallas Love Field, attended by about 400, was to some degree a rally for the Episcopal Church and Bishop Jefferts Schori.
“Everyone at St. Thomas the Apostle is standing taller and feeling prouder because she’s [here] with us,” said Harry Anderson, head of the vestry for a congregation that has long taken progressive stands on race, women’s rights and gay rights.
Two buses came from Fort Worth, and many of the visitors wore stickers saying, “Fort Worth Episcopalians Honor Katharine.”
“We want to make it clear that the Diocese of Forth Worth is not monolithic,” said Katie Sherrod, adding that she considers Bishop Jefferts Schori “fabulous.”
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Katie Sherrod comments at her blog Desert’s Child.